When a New York prosecutor announced Luigi Mangione was charged with murder on Tuesday, he accused Mangione of trying to “sow terror” by shooting dead UnitedHealth Group executive Brian Thompson on a Manhattan street this month.
Mangione was charged with 11 counts by a grand jury, including first-degree murder and murder as a terrorist offense, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg informed reporters. If Mangione, 26, is found guilty on all counts, he will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“This was a frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation,” Bragg told the press. “The intent was to sow terror.”
Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Mangione’s New York defense attorney, didn’t want to comment.
The five-day manhunt for Thompson’s murder outside a Manhattan hotel prior to a business conference resulted in Mangione, an Ivy League graduate, being charged with murder on December 9.
Following his arrest at a McDonald’s restaurant in the city of Altoona, Pennsylvania, last week, Mangione is currently being held on gun-related charges.
Bragg claimed to have evidence that Mangione might give up his claim to challenge his extradition to New York. Mangione’s extradition hearing is set for Thursday in Pennsylvania.
“NO HEROISM”
Americans who struggle to pay for and receive medical care have expressed their outrage over Thompson’s murder.
Americans spend more on health care than people in any other nation, according to government data, with spending on hospital services, prescription drugs, insurance premiums, and out-of-pocket co-payments increasing recently.
Reminiscent of the title of a book critical of the insurance industry, multiple news outlets reported that shell casings discovered at the Thompson murder scene bore the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose.”
An online fundraiser for Mangione’s legal defense has received over a thousand donations, and he has been hailed in some quarters.
Any attempt to justify Mangione’s alleged behavior, according to New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, is “vile.”
Tisch told reporters that Mangione’s actions lacked heroism. “We don’t celebrate murders and we don’t lionise the killing of anyone.”
According to the indictment, Mangione killed Thompson as part of his plan to “influence the policy of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion.”
Friends and social media posts claim that Mangione had chronic back pain that interfered with his day-to-day activities; however, it is unclear if his health contributed to the shooting.
Mangione was not a customer of UnitedHealth Group, the health insurer said last week.
